Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Lytro-Will this be the Revolution of Camera?

Lytro, as I read it from newspaper today, named after the company name-it will bring revolution to the camera business today.

Lytro, Inc. is a light field camera startup company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng, a light-field photography researcher at Stanford University. Lytro's products are targeted to consumer use, while the first company to enter the market of plenoptic cameras, German company Raytrix, has targeted its products to industrial and scientific applications of light-field photography.
Lytro produces its own cameras rather than licensing its technology with an established manufacturer. In 2011, Lytro demonstrated capability to produce a camera that allows users to change the focus of a picture after the picture is taken. According to TechCrunch, plenoptic cameras such as Lytro's are "a new type of camera that dramatically changes photography for the first time since the 1800s."
The company's first camera went on sale October 19, 2011 in 8 GB (US$399) and 16 GB ($499) versions, and shipped in February 2012.

Capture everything - instantly.
Capture living pictures with the press of a single button. By instantly capturing complete light field data, the Lytro camera gives you capabilities you've never had in a regular camera.

Focus after the fact.
Since you'll capture the color, intensity, and direction of all the light, you can experience the first major light field capability - focusing after the fact. Focus and re-focus, anywhere in the picture. You can refocus your pictures at anytime.

And focusing after the fact, means no auto-focus motor. No auto-focus motor means no shutter delay. So, capture the moment you meant to capture not the one a shutter-delayed camera captured for you.

Lytro lets you take pictures like never before. Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.

Capture everything - instantly.
Capture living pictures with the press of a single button. By instantly capturing complete light field data, the Lytro camera gives you capabilities you've never had in a regular camera.

Focus after the fact.
Since you'll capture the color, intensity, and direction of all the light, you can experience the first major light field capability - focusing after the fact. Focus and re-focus, anywhere in the picture. You can refocus your pictures at anytime.

And focusing after the fact, means no auto-focus motor. No auto-focus motor means no shutter delay. So, capture the moment you meant to capture not the one a shutter-delayed camera captured for you.

Share the love.
Friends and family can explore your living pictures – having fun interacting with them like you did – on nearly any device, like your mobile phone, your web browser or your tablet.

Easily share from the desktop or from Lytro.com to friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, email or your blog.

The Lytro packs advanced engineering and tremendous innovation into a deceptively simple design, giving you many capabilities unheard of in conventional cameras.

Price

$499

$399

$399

Color

Red Hot

Graphite

Electric Blue

Storage

750 Pictures

350 Pictures

350 Pictures

Model

16GB Light Field Camera

8GB Light Field Camera

8GB Light Field Camera

Storage Type

Internal flash drive.

Technology

Lytro Light Field Sensor and Lytro Light Field Engine 1.0.

Lens

8x optical zoom; Constant f/2 lens.

Controls

Power button: Shutter button; Zoom slider; Touchscreen.

Display

1.46 in | 33 mm back-lit LCD display with glass touchscreen.

Exposure

Tap on touchscreen to set exposure.

Battery

Long-life Li-Ion internal battery.

File Output

Light field picture file (.lfp).

Light Field Resolution

11 Megarays: the number of light rays captured by the light field sensor.

Software

Includes a free desktop application for importing, processing and interacting with living pictures from the camera. It is built for Mac OS and requires Mac OS 10.6.6 or higher. A Windows application is in development.

Picture Output

Produces HD-quality interactive, living pictures.

Picture Storage

Free storage for living pictures on Lytro.com, subject to the Terms of Use. (Internet access required)

Picture Viewing

View and interact with living pictures on the Lytro camera as well as any internet-connected computer, smartphone or tablet supported.

Light Field Engine

Version 1.0. This is the software that processes light fields to produce interactive pictures. Keep watching this space!